Hunting restrictions move forward

COLUMBIA - A bill to require hunters to keep their dogs from running across private property is heading to the House floor, following compromise to exempt the northwest corner of the state.

"It's been only 30 years in the making," said Derrick Meggie, director of Legislative Services for the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.

Rep. David Umphlett, R-Moncks Corner, said he worked out an agreement this week with Rep. David Hiott, R-Pickens, prior to Wednesday's passage of S.1027, the proposed "Renegade Hunter Act," by the Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Environmental Affairs Committee.

Officials have held at least seven meetings with stakeholders, such as hunting groups and landowners, but repeatedly met with disagreements. The bill was amended to exempt DNR Game Zones 1 and 2, which stretch from the North Carolina border down to include Edgefield County.

"People were starting to get really angry out in the woods when they were hunting," Umphlett said.

"We didn't want somebody to get shot. Tempers can get awful hot, so we're trying to defuse it before something happens."

The bill says violators will have their hunting license suspended for a year, be fined up to $500 or put in jail for 30 days. But it also protects people's dogs from being killed or maimed by property owners.

He said the upstate zones were exempted from the restrictions in the bill because the region has not had the same conflicts reported in the rest of the state.

While clashes between landowners and hunters have been around more than 20 years, Umphlett said the need for a new law became increasingly apparent in the last three years.

"Before, you had dog hunters who knew their neighbors and nobody had a problem with dogs running on their property," he said.

"But since so many people have come in here and didn't grow up in these areas, they don't like the idea of dogs running on their property."